A Change
by Stealth Dragon
Summary: Sam did not see a change in Rodney, at least not yet. JohnRodney friendship because I really like them, and crossover with SG1. Post whumping.
1. A Change

**A Change**

By

Stealth Dragon

Rating – K+

Disclaimer – I do not own Stargate Atlantis. I've been attempting to lure John Sheppard into my clutches with turkey sandwiches, but he is more clever than I thought (glances around suspiciously).

Synopsis – Cross-over with SG-1 (finally as I've been wanting to do that kind of crossover). Sam did not see a change in Rodney, not right away. Another Rodney/John friendship fic as I really like them, plus post torture whump. Very sweet in a sad kind of way. No Slash! Takes place in season two. I know similar stories have been done but I wanted to do my own.

SGA

" What, are you trying to get this thing to overload?" Rodney mumbled. Every motion was announced by the clack of crutches on the smooth concrete floor. Perpetual motion was Rodney McKay, and no bruises and broken bones would change that. He winced as he defied what was trying to slow him down, to still him, and instead increased the motion with each increase of spite. He made adjustments to the generator with small tools that managed to remained clutched in his trembling hands, and barely paused to swipe away the sweat rolling in heavy drops down his pale face.

Sam had tried to stop him, to get him to sit still for just a moment and let the sweat dry. Five times she tried and each time only increased the physicist's ire to the shouting, condescending point.

Sam just couldn't see it no matter how long she watched or how deep she looked. Dr. Weir had said he was a changed man, and maybe he had been – more considerate, less of an ass. Perhaps it was pain making Sam see what she had seen since meeting McKay, or the torture he'd survived at the hands of an enemy in another galaxy. Perhaps there was a reason Sam could not see beyond what she was seeing now, and it both annoyed her and stabbed her with guilt.

Rodney had walked barefoot through hell, giving him every right to snap, rant, and spite the pain. He would flinch at sudden movements, sudden touch, and had every right to. But Sam wanted to see the change, she really did, just to prove that people really could change given the right circumstances.

Only to change back given different circumstances.

Rodney clacked around the small generator, wincing from the pull of healing ribs, and a jarred ankle that had been snapped clean in two. Sam had over heard Dr. Beckett mention that McKay would be limping for a while. Then there were the scabbed cuts, splotched bruises, but at least no more fevers.

Rodney had every right to be the way he was. Sam just wondered if it would be permanent. It was just too hard to imagine a new and improved McKay. Sam could only hope to catch a glimpse during SGA's duration here, while they healed and sloughed through nightmares that would forever linger in the darker recesses of the mind, waiting like wolves observing weakening prey.

Rodney clacked around the table with the generator again, and Sam stepped back to let him by. The need to defend her calculations and adjustments made her chest tighten and fingers curl into fists that turned her knuckles white. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away, opting for remaining mute and _seemingly_ impassive. She would have to speak eventually, though. Rodney had barely stopped, was wearing out, and soon she was going to have to drag him to the mess hall for real food beyond those bars whose foil littered the once clean floor. She contemplated getting Teal'c's help, or maybe that other big guy – Ronon. Ronon had actually volunteered his services should Rodney start neglecting himself for his work, which Dr. Weir had warned would be the case should he get caught up in anything.

Sam lifted one hand to rub the space between her eyes. " Rodney..."

" Not now," he dead-panned, flatly, as though talking to an imbecile who wouldn't shut up. Sam looked away in the other direction, breathing deep to pool the last vestiges of her calm.

Sam stiffened in alarm to see Lt. Colonel Sheppard standing in the doorway, and she swallowed tightly. It was hard to look at him, dressed in a long-sleeved gray shirt that looked two-sizes too big, and a pair of black sweats that hung precariously from his bony hips. He was too thin, way too thin, as though someone had taken his skin and stretched it as tight as possible around his bones. She could see his ribs whenever his shirt pressed against his body, count them individually from where she stood along with each vertebra of his spine. He stood there, one fisted hand on the door frame and the other fiddling with the edge of the overly long sleeve. He was shaking ever so slightly, most likely out of fatigue, and probably a little out of uncertainty. The hazel eyes sunken into that thin, pale face were a little vacant and a lot confused as they wandered over the room and everything it contained. Sam had read the report and attended the briefing after SGA's arrival. Dr. Beckett had said Sheppard would be a little out of it for a while; his memory tripping over itself, and his shredded reality being gradually, painfully, pieced back together.

What it came down to was that Colonel Sheppard was disoriented with the possibility of being a little delusional from time to time. An unidentifiable drug, joining forces with beatings and starvation, was the culprit, reducing him from a man to a frightened child. Beckett said it wouldn't last, and Sam hoped he was right for Sheppard's sake. She didn't know the pilot, but she did know the unquestioning loyalty the others showed him; the caring, the concern, the protection, like a family. That alone had told her everything she needed to know about John Sheppard.

Beckett must have been right. When Sheppard's eyes landed on Sam, rather than shrinking away to go hide in some corner, he gave her a pale smile and small wave.

Trepidation fluttered in Sam's chest. She pulled her gaze from the sickly Sheppard to the waning McKay. McKay's attention was fixated on whatever minor mistake he thought Sam had made. Sam took advantage of the physicist's preoccupation and sidled over to John.

" Colonel Sheppard, did you need something?" She was shocked that he was still standing having come all the way from his quarters. He was supposed to be resting off the remains of the exhaustion illness and withdrawal had left him with.

John rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he looked from Sam to Rodney. He let his hand slide from his neck and swung it up gesturing at the Physicist. " I – I... I just wanted to check on Rodney..."

In other words, he'd had another nightmare that had him waking in a scream and compelled to find his friend. It hadn't been the first time, just the first time he'd actually escaped his room to do the searching on his own.

Sam took John gently by the arm and he flinched. " Rodney's fine, so let's get you back to your room now. Okay? You're really not supposed to be out." The way Rodney lost patience for her, she was afraid of how his petulance would affect the delirious Colonel.

" Colonel, what the hell are you doing here!"

John flinched again, looking away, and Sam pressed her lips together to keep from saying anything, though she doubted it would last long. She heard McKay clacking over to them, and looked up ready to diffuse whatever tirade Rodney was going to launch into that would reduce Sheppard to the state of a berated child. McKay stopped before Sheppard to look him up and down.

" You're supposed to be resting," Rodney said. His tone was sharp, but his eyes... Sam was taken back by the concern she saw in them, the fear.

Sheppard nodded while keeping his gaze to the floor. " Yeah, I know... I just... I... I had a dream..." his hand returned his neck with his thin fingers shaking as they curled above the top of his backbone. " I needed to get out..." he rolled up apologetic eyes.

Rodney nodded and leaned on one crutch to free up his other hand enough to clasp John on the side of his arm. " Yeah, okay, it's okay. You all right?"

Sheppard's mouth twitched in a small smile. " I'm good."

" Bull," but Rodney allowed a small smile of his own.

" You good?" Sheppard asked.

Rodney shrugged. " No, but I'll live. Are you hungry, have you eaten yet? Probably not, right? That's the problem with you being cooped up in that room. People bring you food but no one sticks around to make sure you eat it and not puke it back up. And you really need to get some meat on you before your pants finally fall off because nobody wants to see that..."

John just nodded in agreement with his hand going from his neck to the back of his head, rubbing through his chaotic hair. Rodney led the way out of the room, continuing his spiel concerning the importance of getting weight back onto Sheppard before they no longer needed X-rays to see his bones. Sheppard just smiled contentedly. It was as though McKay's sarcasm actually had a calming effect, at least for Colonel Sheppard.

Sam folded her arms and leaned her shoulder against the door frame, just watching the two friends shuffle and clack down the SGC hall. She smiled and shook her head.

She liked this new McKay.

The end

A/N: Wow. That's the shortest story I've ever done.


	2. Two Warriors

**Two Warriors**

By

Stealth Dragon

A/N: By popular demand, here's more. I hadn't planned on adding to A Change, but the idea for this little tid-bit has been stumbling about for quite a while in different forms. I'm going to try and do more chapters from the POV of SG-1 as they bear witness to the recovery of SGA, and the the closeness SGA shows. Each their own story and complete so the status will remain as complete (In other words, it's not a chapter fic, I'm just clumping each story together). As for doing a story concerning what had happened to John and Rodney, though many of you have begged for that story, I'm sorry to say I have no intentions of writing it as I never had any intentions to do a back story behind John's and Rodney's torture to begin with.

Now on with the story.

SGA

Teal'c clasped his hands behind his back and tilted his head slightly to one side as he observed the man called Ronon Dex leaning casually back against the wall with arms folded. Teal'c's initial assumption had been that Ronon was indecisive on whether or not to knock on the door belonging to Colonel Sheppard's temporary quarters. It was a short lived assumption as Ronon showed no indications of being unable to make up his mind. He looked like he was waiting, and probably was.

Teal'c broke from his observations and approached the quiet warrior.

" Ronon Dex."

Ronon's head turned whipping ropes of his knotted hair to look Teal'c up and down. He pointed at the Jaffa warrior, " Teal'c right?"

Teal'c bowed his head ever so slightly. " Indeed. I have come to ask if you would like to spar. Your friend Teyla has said that you are a very formidable warrior, and I am curious to see what skills you possess." It normally came as a surprise to Teal'c's own team – off and on – that he possessed a curious nature, normally as he did not express to having such a nature. But observation was key in assessing enemies and opponents, and knowledge was always an advantage in any situation, so Teal'c took every opportunity he could to learn.

Ronon shrugged. " Sounds cool."

Teal'c arched his eyebrow. Only Jonas Quinn had ever taken to using such earth phrases. Ronon did so with an ease as though Earth dialect had always been common to him.

Ronon then jerked his thumb over his shoulder. " Got something I've gotta do first."

Teal'c glanced at the door. " Colonel Sheppard has not come out?"

" It takes him a while," Ronon said, but didn't elaborate.

Teal'c did not know the full extent of what Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay went through – just a condensed version told during a briefing and written in a file. The physical and mental state of the two men filled in the blanks. Until the last three days, Colonel Sheppard had not even emerged from his quarters as he'd been lost in a drugged haze that had severely distorted his perceptions.

" Does he still suffer from delusions?" Teal'c asked.

" Not really. He gets confused sometimes, especially after waking up. But it doesn't last long."

Teal'c inclined his head. Curiosity leaned in, prodding to want to know more, but such traits had yet to ever get what they wanted. Some things were best left unsaid, unknown. These were not his people, so the situation was not his to pry into, and he easily accepted that. They were, however, good people, so questions concerning their welfare were genuine and not out of curiosity.

Besides, what happened did not matter. The outcome mattered. These people's health and well being mattered. Teal'c did not need to know the nightmarish details of the incident to understand it. Within the facade of Ronon's indifferent posture hummed tension. Within his eyes flickered lightning quick snatches of anger. It brought to Teal'c's mind memories of his own vigils standing outside doors or next to infirmary beds, forced to endure the aftermath of pain suffered by those close to him, with absolutely nothing he could do about it. So as though to make up for it, every waking minute, and minutes when he should have been asleep, he spent keeping vigil and attending to every need of the one's who suffered.

Most of the time, Teal'c found contentment in it, no matter how small the task or short the watch. In this man, Ronon, there was no contentment. There was, however, acceptance as the man was not pacing the halls raging against lost chances at retribution. Given the chance, Teal'c knew this man would seek revenge the moment he could. But because he could not, not right away, he took what he could get.

Teal'c decided it would be best to leave, and was about to turn.

" They cheated."

Teal'c froze and turned back. " Cheated?"

Ronon lifted an arm away from his chest to scratch the top of his head. " When I finally got to Sheppard, he was curled up in a corner with his arms covering his head because this guy wouldn't stop kicking him. He wasn't a big guy. Short, pudgy – the kind of guy even McKay could have taken down in hand to hand combat. The little man and his guards didn't notice me at first. The runt was too preoccupied with beating Sheppard. Kept gloating about how he'd broken the 'mighty warrior'. I went in, killed the guards... Couldn't kill the runt, though. He was too pathetic. It was enough just to make him wet himself. By then, I just didn't care. I just wanted to get Sheppard and McKay out of there. For a time..." Ronon faltered and looked away, only for a heartbeat before returning his gaze to the floor. " For a time, I thought the runt really had broken Sheppard. He kept screaming while I was carrying him out, kept struggling, but was too weak to break free. After we got him home and Beckett told me he'd been drugged..."

A small, slightly amused, but mostly melancholy smile tugged at Ronon's lips. " I was relieved. Mad too, but not as much as I should have been. It meant they hadn't broken him. Couldn't, so they filled him full of drugs just to pretend they did. A lot of drugs according to Beckett, which meant that Sheppard kept fighting right up to the end, when he no longer had sense enough to fight. They couldn't break him, so they cheated."

Teal'c could not say if Ronon's theory was true. He did not know Colonel Sheppard enough to make such a call. Yet something deep within Teal'c whispered to him the truth of Ronon's words. Teyla had said that Ronon was a man of pure truths. So if Ronon believed that Sheppard could not be broken, then he could not be broken.

A muffled cry grabbed both men's attention. Ronon reacted quickly as though he'd been given a silent command and burst through the door without knocking. Teal'c remained just outside but stood where he could see inside. Ronon flipped on the light and moved in several long strides to the corner where the skeletal body of Colonel Sheppard was huddled and attempting to press in further. The man's sunken eyes wandered wildly around the room without actually seeing it. Sheppard's breath came fast and labored, his body shook, and he was muttering incoherently. Ronon moved slow in crouching down beside the panicked man. He reached out and took Sheppard's face into both hands to turn the Colonel's head until eye-contact was made.

" Sheppard," Ronon said. " _Sheppard_. Look at me."

The muttering stopped, the eyes stilled, and Sheppard's breathing slowed. " Ronon?" Sheppard croaked.

Ronon dropped his hands with one touching the floor and the other draped over one knee. " Yeah. It's me."

Sheppard stared at him for a moment, blinking rapidly, probably to clear away the sleep film and dream remnants. The tension visibly drained from Sheppard's body until he slumped against the wall in exhaustion. He brought up one shaky hand and rubbed the side of his face, steering his hand to massage both his eyes.

" Crap," he groaned, then dropped his hand limply to the floor with a thud on the coarse carpet. " Bloody freakin' hell."

Ronon grinned. " You've been around Beckett too long."

The comment induced a weak smile from Sheppard. " Ya think?" But it was a brief smile that faded quickly away. Sheppard closed his eyes and shook his head. " This really sucks, Chewie."

Teal'c cocked an eyebrow at the nickname.

Ronon clapped Sheppard lightly on one bony shoulder. " Yeah, I know. Can you get up? You need a shower."

Sheppard cracked one eye open. " That your subtle way of telling me I stink?"

" If you smelled bad, I would have told you. You look cold."

Sheppard nodded. He was calm, but the shivering remained. Ronon released Sheppard's shoulder and shuffled back as Sheppard pressed against the wall in his struggle to rise. A difficult struggle from the way his face screwed up, his legs trembled, and he had to pause every so often just to reclaim energy. Ronon made no room to help. The bigger man rose, watched, and waited but with his arms loose at his sides, just in case. Sheppard's journey to his feet was long, arduous, and seemingly agonizing for the man. But it was a journey he fought with everything he had to complete. Sheppard's body was weak. The sweat-soaked gray shirt clung to him like skin that had shrunk around his bones. Those bones looked fragile enough to snap under the slightest pressure, the ribs seemingly as brittle as dried twigs, the legs certain to give out at any moment.

The man himself was anything but weak. His determination was mountain solid, and weak body or not he was going to stand even if he ended up falling more than once to do it. This was not a man who gave up. This was a man who would fight to the bitter end, no matter how drugged or beaten down.

Ronon's theory made perfect sense. Sheppard's tormentors had cheated.

Sheppard's struggles and stubborn resolve won out over his own body, and he was upright leaning against the wall slick with sweat and panting. A triumphant, rather smug smile spread across his face.

" Okay," he said. " I'm up. And I could definitely use a shower for the purpose of getting rid of the bad smell."

Sheppard was careful about turning, and keeping to playing it safe he shuffled along rather than simply walked. Ronon stayed by his side, and it took a moment for Teal'c to realize that Sheppard was leaning a little against the bigger man.

Sheppard lifted his weary head to let his gaze wander the room. His eyes paused on Teal'c, and the emaciated body flinched in momentary alarm. Recognition took its time as Sheppard was not used to Teal'c, just familiar with him. Even when Sheppard bodily relaxed, unease still lingered in his gaze.

Unease and just a little embarrassment, which was perfectly understandable. No matter the strength of the soul, the frail body was what grabbed attention. However, once the shock of seeing someone in such a state had passed, allowing the strength to have its turn at being noticed, then the frail body no longer demanded an audience. Teal'c smiled congenially at Sheppard and bowed his head in greeting.

" Colonel Sheppard," he said. " Good day to you."

Sheppard smiled tentatively back. " Hey... Uh... Teal'c?"

" That is correct. You are looking well today," which was the truth. Teal'c no longer saw the state of the body, just the state of the soul.

Sheppard's crooked smile became slightly more genuine. " Thanks." Daniel had always said of Teal'c that there was no denying the warrior's honesty, even if you'd just met him for the first time.

Ronon escorted Sheppard to the bathroom but let the Colonel handle things from here on in. Ronon waited outside the door leaning his shoulder against the frame with arms folded again. Sheppard was not in the bathroom for long, and eventually emerged wearing a long-sleeved blue shirt and gray sweat pants. Drops of water flecked from the man's wild black hair to soak into the shoulders of the shirt and down his back. He shivered, then was handed a jacket by Ronon.

" You need to stop by the infirmary after you eat," Ronon said.

Sheppard nodded as he slid the jacket over his arms. " I know the routine, big guy."

" I'm still supposed to remind you."

" Just because McKay tells you to do something doesn't mean you have to listen. I'm still the team leader here."

Teal'c stepped aside to let them out the door, and joined them as they headed up the hall to the mess.

" He's just worried about you."

Sheppard snorted. " I'm worried about him but you don't see me reminding him of every little thing every twenty minutes."

" You kept telling him to keep off his leg."

" Has he listened yet?"

" No. I saw him just a couple of minutes ago."

" There you have it then. I have the right to nag, he doesn't..."

Teal'c smiled at the exchange of words, and felt honored to be in the company of these two great warriors.

The End

A/N: I liked writing Teal'c's POV, though I don't know if I got it quite right. I'm going to plan out POV ficlets for Daniel and Cam, but they may be a while in coming. Sorry there was no McKay in this one but I'll try to have him in the next two.


End file.
